One Call
by Leveragefan101
Summary: One call changes the lives of four people, they forever will be changed.


I do not own NCIS or any character you can recognize beside Erica.

Looking down at the patch of ground that minutes before had a six-foot hole in it. The new headstone lied at the top of the grave a glaring reminder of what they had lost, saying 'Erica O'Conner - April 10 1991- October 1 2013. Yet the coffin lay empty, her body was never found. The phone call had come three days ago that she had gone missing in a war zone six months ago and since then no sign of her was found. Standing around the fresh grave, the only people there was family, the soldiers that had come to send her off with a military salute had left thirty minutes ago. The American Flag had been given to her only sister, her older sister. The friends of her siblings had taken a step back and were now waiting next to the tree line about a hundred feet back trying to give the family a sense of privacy. The only thing that could be heard was her sister's sobs into her brother's shirt and the heavy breathing of the other three men trying not to break down. They all stood around the grave, her two brothers from her dad's side stood on one side while her brother and sister from her mom's side stood on the other. Her mom and dad had split custody of her when she was two, going back and forth between them till her father had died when she was ten and then went and lived in boarding school when her mother had died at fifteen.

"When was the last time you saw her?" her sister, Sarah asked, she was trying to remember the last time she had seen her sister's face or felt her hug, they had grown up together only five years apart.

"At her graduation from high school," Erica's oldest brother, Eliot, from her dad's side spoke.

"Me too." Had it really been five years since they had seen their younger sister. Of course letters had been sent but those had been few and far between each letter becoming vaguer till they had stopped completely. Erica had always been a private person growing up; it seemed her belief that if you didn't experience the memory with her she would never speak about it. She had achieved her dream of joining the military yet right now all her family wished was that she had failed that dream cause if she had she would still be alive smiling up at them her dimples poking out of her cheeks making her look younger than she already did.

Brian, her other brother from her dad's side, held a single box in his arms the last of his sister's possessions. Bending down to the ground he placed the box down, lifting the lid of the box, the tears that had been threatening to fall, fell quickly as he lifted up the dog tags of his little sister. Handing them to the outstretched hand of Eliot he went to pick up the remaining items that happened to be five photos and a journal. Handing the journal over to Tim, Erica's brother from her mom's side, Brian looked at the remaining photos.

The first one was an old photo portraying a much younger Eliot, who was wearing his army uniform his brown hair cut short in military fashion flashing a giant smile to the camera, next to the left him was Brian, his blonde curly locks making the sixteen year old look like a typical Californian surfer, in Eliot's right arm was Erica her four year old arms wrapped around his neck. There father had been the one holding the camera. It would be the last photo the family would take all together, Eliot would be leaving on his first tour the next day not returning for three years and by then Brian had left for Miami. Turning the photo over he read the date June 7 1995.

The next one was of at Tim's graduation from college, a ten year old Erica stood to the right of Tim in his black cap and gown a diploma in hand, Sarah stood behind Erica next to Tim as their mother stood to the left looking as if she had been trying not to cry. On the back was May 15 2001 'Graduation from MIT.'

The next was of the day Erica had been born, she was wrapped in a pink hospital blanket, her father was sitting on the edge of the bed holding her as her mother looks down at her smiling looking worn out from giving birth. On the back was her birthdate.

The next was all of them together at Erica's high school graduation she was in a black cap and gown holding her diploma smiling at the camera. She had asked one of her friends to take the photo so that all her siblings could be in the shot. Eliot and Timothy stood behind her as Brian and Sarah flanked either side of her. On the back was the date of the graduation June 12 2008. What wouldn't be seen was how that night she had asked Tim, who had become her legal guardian two years ago, to sign the parental consent form so that she could join the military at seventeen. It was the last night that anyone had seen her cause the next day she joined the military and a week later went to boot camp.

The last photo was of Erica in the desert her brown hair pulled into a side braid her dog tags on display smiling into the camera a M16 in hand, three others squatting with her all in marine uniforms holding M16 looking into the camera. It could be easily seen that Erica had been the one taking the photo of the squad. Brian wondered if this was the last photo Erica ever took, he then handed them to Sarah so she could look at them; her tears that had been silently streaming down her face grew more as she looked at the photos.

Timothy was skimming through the journal, like Sarah and himself, Erica had enjoyed writing, most of the entries were like how the letters were written like vague he could tell she was purposefully writing like that trying to convey some emotion without ever telling what was happening. Looking at the last page of the journal he read out loud:

"Dear family, if you are reading this then I'm sorry for not getting to say this in person. I love you all. It also means that I didn't come back from my last mission. Thank you for being my family for the last twenty-two years. Love Erica O'Conner."

Thank you for reading. Please Review. If you don't want this to be a one-shot let me know.


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